Fiber. Fiber. Fiber. By now you’ve got the message. Eat more fiber.
“Fiber helps to lower cholesterol.”
“Fiber will reduce your risk of diabetes.”
“Fiber is associated with weight loss.”
Apparently fiber does more than just make you go to the bathroom. A high fiber diet has shown to have greater health benefits than any other diet. Fiber appears to reduce the risk of developing various conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, diverticular disease, and constipation. Fiber helps to lower cholesterol as well as stabilize blood glucose levels. And yes, it has shown to induce weight loss.
Oh precious weight loss. If I could just eat enough fiber… I could finally be thin… This is the thought of many misguided Americans.
So it’s time for us to start using our brains and figure out that a single component from food is not going to make us thin or healthy. Fiber is found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. Eating fiber from whole foods (meaning unprocessed food) will provide you with essential vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants and phytochemicals. These fiber-containing super foods do not have processed sugars, enriched flour, artificial sweeteners, trans fat, preservatives, or hidden agendas.
Now that fiber is being publicized as the savior of food, people can’t get enough of it. People are buying products crammed with fiber. Fiber One offers cereal, granola bars, yogurt, and even cottage cheese, packed full of fiber. You can get 35% of your fiber in one granola bar! If you ate a serving of Fiber One cereal, a granola bar, and a yogurt, you would exceed 100% of your daily fiber requirement!
Kellogg’s offers a Special K fiber-filled drink mix. Not only does it contain 5 grams of fiber, but it also contains 5 grams of protein! So if you are not getting enough protein on your low-carb fiber-enhanced fad diet, go ahead and guzzle one of these!
The people buying these products are missing the point. It’s not just about fiber! It’s about the whole food. One of the reasons fiber is so good for you is because of the package it comes in, and I’m not talking about a cardboard box or a pill bottle. For example, apples are a great source of fiber, but they’re also a good source of vitamin C and tannins!
Most processed foods contain ingredients you don’t really want. Let’s take a look at all the extra goodies we’re getting in our fiber.
“Fiber helps to lower cholesterol.”
“Fiber will reduce your risk of diabetes.”
“Fiber is associated with weight loss.”
Apparently fiber does more than just make you go to the bathroom. A high fiber diet has shown to have greater health benefits than any other diet. Fiber appears to reduce the risk of developing various conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, diverticular disease, and constipation. Fiber helps to lower cholesterol as well as stabilize blood glucose levels. And yes, it has shown to induce weight loss.
Oh precious weight loss. If I could just eat enough fiber… I could finally be thin… This is the thought of many misguided Americans.
So it’s time for us to start using our brains and figure out that a single component from food is not going to make us thin or healthy. Fiber is found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts. Eating fiber from whole foods (meaning unprocessed food) will provide you with essential vitamins and minerals as well as antioxidants and phytochemicals. These fiber-containing super foods do not have processed sugars, enriched flour, artificial sweeteners, trans fat, preservatives, or hidden agendas.
Now that fiber is being publicized as the savior of food, people can’t get enough of it. People are buying products crammed with fiber. Fiber One offers cereal, granola bars, yogurt, and even cottage cheese, packed full of fiber. You can get 35% of your fiber in one granola bar! If you ate a serving of Fiber One cereal, a granola bar, and a yogurt, you would exceed 100% of your daily fiber requirement!
Kellogg’s offers a Special K fiber-filled drink mix. Not only does it contain 5 grams of fiber, but it also contains 5 grams of protein! So if you are not getting enough protein on your low-carb fiber-enhanced fad diet, go ahead and guzzle one of these!
The people buying these products are missing the point. It’s not just about fiber! It’s about the whole food. One of the reasons fiber is so good for you is because of the package it comes in, and I’m not talking about a cardboard box or a pill bottle. For example, apples are a great source of fiber, but they’re also a good source of vitamin C and tannins!
Most processed foods contain ingredients you don’t really want. Let’s take a look at all the extra goodies we’re getting in our fiber.
Strawberry Kiwi Protein Water MixIngredients
POLYDEXTROSE, WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF SOY LECITHIN, SUCRALOSE, ETHOXYLATED MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, RED #40, NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), VITAMIN B12. SWEETENED WITH NONNU TRITIVE SWEETENERS.
Hopefully when you read through that long list of ingredients, you saw high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, artificial flavoring, and preservatives. Are these really things you want to be putting in your body?
If you’re looking for ways to be “healthy” this is not the best way to go, but it is also not the worst. Given the choice between Fruit Loops and Fiber One, I’d choose Fiber One every time. But as far as optimal health goes, you should stick with oatmeal, shredded wheat, Grape Nuts, or even Cheerios.
Following the “better out than in” motto is not going to work with essential nutrients such as zinc, iron, and copper. Eating a diet that is too high in fiber could actually cause vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Think about it. If you are eating predominantly fiber and pushing everything out, you aren’t giving your body enough time to absorb essential nutrients. Now, this is not going to happen when you’re eating fiber that is packaged in delicious fruits and vegetables. This can happen when you’re supplementing fiber.
Curious about how much fiber you should be getting? The average woman should be getting about 20-25 grams a day and the average man should be getting about 30-35 grams a day.
Let me put it in perspective:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, apple, soy milk
Lunch: Avocado sandwich (on whole wheat bread) and carrots and hummus
Dinner: Brown rice, kidney beans, and broccoli
That’s 42 grams of fiber. It is not difficult to get enough fiber in your diet.
You don’t need to pop fiber tablets like candy or buy fiber enriched foods. All you need to do is eat whole grains like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, or brown rice, start incorporating more vegetables in your diet, substitute beans and legumes for meat, and start snacking on nuts or fruit instead of chips. Meat, candy, potato chips, crackers, cookies, ice cream, milk, eggs, or anything that is not a plant, will not give you fiber.
Understand that I absolutely love fiber, but from the right source. I think food is only worth eating if it contains fiber.
If there is a day where you’re feeling a little congested, I suggest you sprinkle psyllium on your cereal and drink lots of water. That’ll clear you right up :)
Calculate how much fiber you ate today!
http://www.fullplatediet.org/fiber-calculator/
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